Jeff Sessions staff, feds not saying who asked research site to take down his information

A trove of information about Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, President Donald Trump's controversial nominee for U.S. Attorney General, disappeared from a popular online research service within the past two weeks.

As of Jan. 17, extensive personal, professional and financial details about Sessions, his family and his properties were available via subscribers-only sections of the LexisNexis website.

But by Jan. 25, nearly every mention of Sessions was scrubbed from the site. It is not clear on what day exactly the information was removed, but it happened within five days of Trump's inauguration on Jan. 20.

Yet extensive information about Trump himself remains posted on the site, as does information about a number of his cabinet nominees, including Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson, Navy Secretary nominee Philip Bilden and Ben Carson, Trump's Housing and Urban Development Secretary nominee. Carson was once a leading presidential primary contender, and was subject to significant security measures during the 2016 campaign.

Information about Eric Holder, President Barack Obama's first attorney general, is also available via LexisNexis, though details about Loretta Lynch, Obama's second attorney general, could not be easily located on the site.

LexisNexis is a popular online service used by professionals, companies and law enforcement agencies to conduct research on individuals and businesses. (Screenshot | LexisNexis)

It is currently unclear how the information about Sessions came to be taken down.

Sarah Isgur Flores, a spokeswoman for Sessions, said that the Sessions camp did not take down the information or request that it be erased.

"This sounds like it's probably a question for the Marshals or Secret Service about their protocol about when and what measures they take for protectees," she said via email Wednesday. "My guess is this is [Standard Operating Procedure with] a new cabinet secretary."

Asked if she intended to state that "no one associated with Sessions took steps to make this happen," she responded, "correct."

Joe Casey, a spokesman for the U.S. Secret Service, said via phone Friday afternoon that the agency would not have been in a position to make such a request, and that it did not do so.

"Mr. Sessions wouldn't be a protectee of the United States Secret Service. I would check with the [U.S. Department of Justice] initially and also with the U.S. Senate," he said.

Nikki Credic-Barrett, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Marshals Service, said Monday that the agency was also not responsible for the information about Sessions being taken down.

"The U.S. Marshals Service did not facilitate or request the removal of Sessions' information from Lexis Nexis," she said via email.

The press offices of the Justice Department and Secretary of the Senate did not respond to requests for comment Friday.

LexisNexis declined via email Friday to say whether it had taken down the information about Sessions or if it had received any requests to do so.

"As a matter of policy, we do not comment on information in our services that may be suppressed for legal or security reasons," the company wrote in an official statement.

But LexisNexis does have a "LexisNexis Individual Requests for Information Suppression Policy" posted on its website that details how the company handles such requests.

"Individuals may request to opt-out of having personal information about themselves made available through certain LexisNexis products and services, in accordance with legal requirements or if permitted by LexisNexis policy," the policy states.

It goes on to explain what types of people might be eligible to have the service remove their information from its online databases.

"Public and elected officials, including law enforcement officers, and private individuals who are facing a substantial risk of physical harm or who are victims of identity theft may request to have personal information about themselves suppressed from LexisNexis products and services available to subscribers of our restricted public records products," the policy states.

Updated at 1:56 p.m., Jan. 30, 2017 to include comment from the U.S. Marshals Service

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